Deputy head of Azerbaijan Popular Front Party arrested (UPDATE)

Azerbaijan's Prosecutor General's Office has spread information about the arrest of Fuad Gahramanli, deputy head of Azerbaijan Popular Front Party, the Prosecutor General's Office told Trend.

Gahramanli was summoned to the Investigation Department on Grave Crimes over the Nardaran incident and the criminal case initiated by the Prosecutor General's Office.

Earlier, on Nov. 26, five members of a criminal group, operating under the guise of religion, were killed during a police operation in the township of Nardaran, some 25 km northeast of Baku. Two police officers were also killed in the standoff.

Fourteen members of the criminal group were arrested along with the group's ringleader Taleh Baghirov. All 14 detainees were arrested for four months as a preventive measure against them.
Azerbaijani Prosecutor General's Office has initiated criminal cases.

The criminal case has been initiated upon the facts of violation of public order, terrorism and other crimes that led to death.

Gahramanli demanded to provide a formal notice, therefore, on the same day, the employees of the Prosecutor General's Office presented a document inviting him to come and give testimony.

As a result of the investigation, it was revealed that starting from September, Gahramanli was making publications on Facebook calling citizens for disobedience to the authorities, carried out activities aimed at inciting religious hatred and animosity between the different currents of Islam.

There is a reasonable suspicion that he was inciting to extremist religious activities in Nardaran.

It became known that by justifying grave crimes committed under the guise of religion by Taleh Baghirov and the extremist armed group created by him in Nardaran, Gahramanli called on the people to walk into the square, forcibly seize power and forcibly change Azerbaijan's constitutional order by holding long-run protest actions.